“The Witch” by Mark Korven

Imagine being a child again, sitting around a campfire late at night wrapped in a blanket while someone tells you a scary story. One of those tales that usually happened a long time ago to someone who knew someone… you know how it goes. As you listen closely, a story unfolds in your head that seems almost as if it were true, as if what is being told could actually have happened. You start to believe that it might have happened! Through the decades, these kind of fairy tales have become firmly entrenched in people’s memories and have been retold…

“Nope” by Michael Abels, Various Artists

Finally, after over two and a half years, I went to the movies again, and it couldn’t have been a better homecoming than with Jordan Peele’s Nope. The film tells the story of a remote horse ranch in the California back country called Haywood Hollywood Horses where strange things are happening. Clutter is falling from the sky, electronic equipment is failing regularly, and the horses are acting increasingly startled. It’s only when the ranch owners set up security cameras in the valley that they realize the real danger is lurking behind the clouds. This rather simple premise is unfolding a…

“Punch-Drunk Love” by Jon Brion

After two sprawling epics, director Paul Thomas Anderson took it down a notch and came along with a small and low-key romantic comedy called Punch-Drunk Love. The film centers around Barry Egan, a thirty-something basket-case who leads a dull life. During the day he tries to sell toilet plungers, while at night he desperately seeks deep conversations with sex hotline workers. He is emotionally unstable and trapped in his little world of borderline, crying fits, and a deep-seated longing for a significant other. Until one day, an unexpected encounter turns his life upside down… I don’t know if there’s anything…

“Magnolia” by Jon Brion, Aimee Mann

There are films that you consider to be flawless until you watch them again years later and realize that they aren’t even as good as you thought they were. Instead they’re more like testimonials of their time, grounded in the very moment. Times are constantly changing and many of the films from back then evoke quite different emotions today. But there are also the rare exceptions that haven’t lost any of their magic. Films that years and decades later still manage to captivate just like they did when they were originally released. Magnolia is such a case for me. I…

“Jurassic World: Dominion” by Michael Giacchino

So… what the hell happened? Why haven’t I published anything in almost 18 months? No sign of life, nothing? Well, I’ll tell you why… Like most stories, it all started with a pointless software update (*pause for laughing track*). In December 2018, WordPress forced the new Gutenberg Block Editor onto their customer base. And as any grumpy old man would do, I refused to adopt to the new tool right away. It was unintuitive, it wouldn’t let me do my muscle-learned workflows, and worst of all, it broke all my previous blog posts. Damn it, I’m too old for this…